“Super Affiliate” study from R.O. Eye disappoints
Affiliate management agency R.O. Eye released the findings of their “super-affiliate” study the other day. Now before I go on I’d like to say that I like R.O. Eye, they are nice people and they are good at what they do. However, this “study” left a lot to be desired.
For instance it comes up with such staggering insights like:
“Poor communication and a widespread lack of market understanding result in considerable sales and profit margin losses across the affiliate industry, new research reveals today.”
Put your hand up if you didn’t already know this? Hardly earth shattering and definitely not “new”.
What about these pearls of wisdom?
“The survey finds that super-affiliates believe the root of these problems to be ineffective affiliate programme management. Common issues such as dead or old data feeds and expired offers frequently result in reduced commission for affiliates and loss of sales for brands.”
Again, is this anything new?
I was invited to take part in this study but I declined as I didn’t think the questions were anything new or challenging, so didn’t see the point. The questions sent to me were “Do you prefer to work directly with a merchant rather than an affiliate network?” and “What do you require from a merchant to maximise return from an affiliate programme?” As you can see nothing testing and nothing I haven’t answered a million times in other interviews, forums etc.
So it was no surprise really that the press release that came from the questions was a bit weak. I’m not naive though, I fully understand that R.O. Eye conducted the research as a vehicle to gain more PR for their company and they knew full well what the answers would be, all of which are beneficial for an affiliate marketing agency. I still feel disappointed though, I think there could have been a bit more done on this which could have provoked more discussion.
If anyone wants to read the full press release then Keith has it here, and Kirsty has some chat about it here.
What I’m listening to right now: Ludacris - “Stand Up”
Original post by Kieron